


Smoke filled sky.

by Mykko_chan



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-09-11 00:01:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8944645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mykko_chan/pseuds/Mykko_chan
Summary: Naruto just wants to become a wizard. Years had gone by but he had failed the test every year. This year would be different. He just knew it. It was his last chance. Jiraiya brought him to the Crossing for the test. He was ready. He hoped.And then the shit hit the fan.





	1. And so it begins.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KizuKatana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KizuKatana/gifts).



> So how this started.... Kizu and I were talking about writing a fic together. We threw out ideas and then wanted to write in the Lord of the Rings world. We had a Huge plan, but then we didn't do it and the idea sat on my computer. I've changed the idea, the world is nothing like the Lord of the Rings and became more straight fantasy. I am enjoying writing this and excited. Please let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Smoke filled the sky, blocking out the sun and the moon. Day and night merged until no one knew one from the other and life became only the wait for death.

Dragon, Dark and Light Elf, Wizard and Human fought the Demons. Blood soaked the ground. Fruit once green, golden and orange became crimson and poisoned forever more. 

Dark magic, curses and fire scorched forests and turned them to deserts of ash that left the taste of torture on one’s tongue. 

The Demons were strong. They were powered by the forces of darkness, the depths of the sea, the depravity of the soul and they fed freely from the magic of those that hunted them. Dragon, Elf and Wizard magic sucked from tortured bodies fed them.

To save the world, sacrifices were made. The LIght Elves attacked en masse, every last one pouring their heart magic against the Demon defenses until it broke. The Dragons burned themselves out with a surge of power so bright it turned true night into a noon that killed all Demonkin but one. The Wizards, of man, elf and magic from the unknown, backed the Last Demon into the Cell created by the Dark Elves, but not without great loss. The Dark Elves used the environmental magic of the world and all that was good and alive to seal the Last Demon. 

It was over. And the world moved on.

 

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_

Naruto woke to sickening anticipation. The heavy feeling in his stomach threatened to double him over and make him retch but he refused to succumb to it. In a way he was used to this. It wouldn’t be his first elemental test, not by a long stretch, but it would be his last. 

He laced his fingers on the rolled cloak behind his head and stared into the darkness of his dingy tent. The sun hadn’t quite risen yet, not that anyone would be able to tell when it did. It was raining again and the sound was deafening, but at least he had enough skill to keep himself dry. It was October 10. He was 48 just that day. Wizards, as a rule, did live longer than ordinary humans, something about the magic. But he wasn't really much of a wizard, yet.

Forty-eight was a significant age in a wizard’s life. It was another chance to determine his magical affinity: wind, lightning, earth or water. Actually, it was the last time he’d be able to try to determine his affinity. It was something that came about every three years starting their 24th birthday. If he didn’t pass any of the tests that day, then it would signal that he would never be a true wizard, only a conjurer.

In truth most wizards knew by their 36th birthday and the very best by their 30th. Master Jiraiya had known by the time he was 24. 

He didn't know why it was taking him so long. He put every hour he could into study and practice. He ignored the demeaning words of the other cadets and masters they met during their travels. Only a few of them knew his true age, though. He looked like he could have been 23. 

His lack of visible aging had concerned his Master more than it did him. He should have looked much more mature. Wizards may live longer but they aged only slightly less than humans. Master Jiraiya didn’t say anything about the anomaly, but Naruto had caught him looking. It had been Jiraiya's suggestion that he try to grow a beard. All Naruto had grown was stubble that made him look even younger. His blond hair though was long, like Master Jiraiya’s.

Naruto shook the thought off. The way he looked wasn’t something he could change. His knowledge was. 

He sneezed. Damn they really needed a few warm, sunny days to lay the tent in the sun to get the moldy smell out of it and his bed rolls. 

He sat up sideways so he could stretch his arms out. He rolled his head and then sighed as the muscles released. 

With his left hand, he reached into a leather satchel worn smooth by use and blindly pulled out a blue sphere the size of the end of his thumb. He placed it in his right palm, held it before his lips and whispered, “Light.” He blew gently on it and the crystal piece began to glow. There was a little net hanging at the top of the tent for him to put it in.

He lit four more and hung them up in their places, filling the tent with light. 

The test wouldn’t come until noon. He had time yet.

He pulled the small pouch from his satchel. This was made of elk skin and tied with green ribbon the color of moss. He poured out four stones: clear, green, blue, and white. He placed each in his palm and meditated one at a time on the element they represented. 

Green = Earth came first, for it housed the peoples, fed them, sheltered them and deserved respect. 

After that was Wind = Clear. It was synonymous with air and slow change. Without either there would be no life. 

And then there was Blue = Water. Water quenched their thirst, cleansed their wounds and washed away the past. It could affect slow or instantaneous change.

Lightning = White. It was hottest heat there was, burning away the past, it was change in an instant. It could break down what had taken years to build. It could destroy. It could beget fire. And some species of plant needed that fire to procreate. 

There were far more thoughts. He spent an hour on each stone. It was in how he saw these elements that would decide if any would chose him.

When he looked up from the white stone it was still raining and he sighed. He was going to get wet.

He put all four stones in his hand and looked at them. He remembered discovering them the year he was sixteen. He’d been so picky, insistent that they would call to him. Master Jiraiya had gotten so frustrated that he wouldn’t just pick up colored rocks. 

It wasn’t the first time Naruto had been frustratingly stubborn. He hadn’t expected he’d need the stones until his forty-eighth year though. He didn't think his mentor had thought that either.

There was power enough coiling inside him. He could feel it. He’d thought he’d be a Wizard by the second affinity test for certain. He’d almost given up after he’d turned 30. He’d packed and started to walk away.

Master Jiraiya had flung him against a massive vertical rock and left him spread eagle overnight so he could ‘think things over.’ There had been a huge storm. It was dark as pitch and then brighter than the sun during the flashes of lightning. He’d felt the power inside him rise. He just couldn’t figure out how unleash it. It had roiled like an angry ocean. If he did release it, would he be able to direct it? He now had nightmares where he killed people who got too close to his massive amounts of power. What choice had he had but to study with Master Jiraiya? He had studied hard.

Master Jiraiya was the only one who had believed in him. His Wizard Master was the only one who had seen anything more than a starving orphan whose parent had just been murdered and his house burned down. Naruto had been 8 when they met. 

Naruto closed his hands around the affinity rocks. His hand had gotten bigger, he noticed. His fingers now covered the stones, of course the stones were probably smaller from years of being worn down by his studies. 

Master Jiraiya had once told him that it was Naruto’s ancestors that would determine his future. But Jiraiya had been royally drunk and had just finished pleasing two women. Naruto didn’t remember how the subject of futures came up. Only that Master Jiraiya had looked up from his tankard of golden liquid and stared at him with the blue eyes that could pierce, eyes so blue they could channel the sky. Then he said something even more creepy.

“I die when you are born.”

Which of course was a lie, since Master Jiraiya was alive and so was Naruto. It wasn’t often that Jiraiya lied to him about anything serious. But there had been some massive ones over all the years they had known one another. So Naruto shook it off. But days like these, he couldn’t help but remember and wonder what it all added up to, even if it was nothing but malarky. 

He opened his hand and separated the stones one last time, giving a thought to each and before putting them them away. It was the last time he’d use them. They were learning stones. Hopefully he would move on to something new to study.

________________

 

Naruto looked at his mentor. The white-haired old wizard sat on one of the boulders that ringed the younger man, legs crossed and meditating. He was dry. Why? Magic.

Naruto was soaking wet. His gray robe, indicative of being an initiate clung to his body and the smaller rock he sat on. 

This was a magical place. At his back was the Rasengan river whose roar could drowned out almost any thought. To his right, the red rock plateau of Sukaku watched over him, never slumbering. Left was the deep forest of Leaf, where the last of the Elves had taken refuge. And before him, behind Jiraiya. ended the crevasse of Isobu, branching off in the far distance into three tails. It was said to have been created when the last Dragons expended all their magic.

Naruto shook his head like a dog, spraying water around the circle and huffed before smoothing his mane behind his ears again. This test was bad enough. He supposed he was lucky he’d never had to do it in the rain before. Of course they’d never journeyed so far, to the second continent, named Nippon. This was where magic was born, or so Wizards said. 

He could slip easily into the trance that was required for him to begin but he was reluctant. This was his last try. He’d no longer be with Master Jiraiya, he’d be a failure. He knew there was magic in him, he just couldn't release it. 

He stared at the old wizard a little longer. Jiraiya was a sage and summoner, two of the lost arts, able to call toads and predict future events. It was true, he was world renowned. He was powerful, that was true as well. Yet the wizard was so much more than that. He’d been a father to Naruto when he’d been orphaned. He was a pervert, a writer, a mentor, and full of faults. There was no one Naruto loved more. 

He had to succeed, to prove to everyone that Jiraiya had chosen correctly when he’d picked Naruto. He wanted to make the old man proud.

Naruto let his eyes close, his fingers unclench and he rested them on his knees. He sat back into his heels and raised his face to the sky. He was ready for the magic to find him worthy.

He had no concept of how long it was before the magic came to him. But nothing had changed. It was like all the other times. He could feel the magic of the world surrounding him, caressing him. It raised the hair on his skin and made his flesh tingle. Behind his lids it sparked the colors of his stones, white, yellow, green and blue. Yet the magic did not penetrate. It was as if there was some ward inside that kept it from him even as he reached out to each element as he’d been taught, as he’d spent countless hours practicing.

For a time Naruto had debated the possibility of a curse, but dismissed the theory. Nothing about this felt wrong. There was just some disconnect. He didn’t know what it was. But he couldn’t let it hold him back, not this time. 

He reached harder, sensing the ground, rock, tree, the water, the air. His skin prickled and lighting split the air. 

The thunder almost drowned out the pained cry of his mentor.

Naruto’s eyes flashed open to see the powerful wizard standing on the ground just to the other side of the rocks, Gamabunta, waist height toad at his side, fighting other wizards and swordsmen. 

But why had they not attacked Naruto too? Naruto got to his feet on the rock, magic raised and unreleased twisting around him. 

Master Jiraiya must have noticed him for he cried out, “Naruto, no! Run!”

Naruto shook his head. He could no more have left his mentor behind then stopped breathing. 

Fire shot from his Master’s hand, igniting the oil that Gamabunta, spit. A wall of fire surrounded the old Wizard and Naruto jumped to the ground out of the way. He rolled to the side and behind a boulder, looking for attackers. 

The magic was all around from the trial, tails of distorted air currents, but he couldn't do anything with it. He wished for his dagger or bow, both he’d been taught to hunt with but they were back in his tent. All the magic he could use was basic. At least he could do some damage with the weapons. One did not kill food with magic, it tainted it and was disrespectful to the life that was taken. Desperate, he ran towards one of the swordsmen, thinking to take the man’s sword. Naruto didn’t know how to use it well, but at least he’d have a weapon. 

He jumped the man who was looking the other way, dragging them both to the ground. The tatooed, red-haired man began to scream as his skin dessicated and began to flake wherever the power surrounding Naruto touched. His face disintegrated, his eyes exploded and Naruto fought the urge to retch at the smell of releasing bowels and death. He grabbed the sword and stood to find himself facing an Anbu level Master Wizard wearing a bear mask. “I will destroy you and your Master.” 

“Why are you attacking Master Jiraiya?” he demanded.

“He has predicted the fall of our Master, the one who will rule all. The Toad Master must be destroyed,” The voice was haughty and full of assurance. “Watch.”

One pale, long fingered hand lifted above the mask and lighting shot from the sky, meet flesh. Bright light, filled with the power of the sky, surrounded the thin, white robed figure. The fingers then pointed towards Jiraiya, who was busy fighting other opponents. He turned toward the attack when Naruto cried a warning but he wasn’t able to fully shield the blow.

Jiraiya fell with a scream, the stench of burning flesh filled Naruto’s nostrils. 

“No!” Naruto shouted, running toward the Bear Wizard without thought to his own safety. 

Another flash of light filled the glade as the Bear Wizard attacked Naruto. The white hot power surround him. The ambient magic he had called in his test met it and the powers clashed. It was almost as if he had...

And Naruto realized deep in his soul the reason he couldn’t connect with the elements. He had armor that kept them separate. He had no idea how he knew, but he did. With that knowledge the armor manifested; liquid red and yellow dripped off his body, claws formed as he attacked those that had dared defile his Master Jiraiya. 

Screams and curses filled the air. Death had it’s way there in that place. Only one thing came out alive, crawled away from that once sacred site barely sentient. It was washed and cleansed by the River Rasengan and delivered into the territory of the leaf.

But while flesh healed, memories of unspeakable power, unspeakable acts of horror remained in his mind. He was no longer merely Naruto. But what he was, he did not know. Was he demon? Would he destroy everything?

\----


	2. Ancient beings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto meets someone new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... *cough cough* It's been awhile. I actually thought I'd posted this. But I must thank KizuKatana she really really really helped me out. As usual, Go read her stuff. It's amazing. 
> 
> Why is this so damn late??? I have no explanation. Or at least not a good one. I hope you enjoy this. Give me your thoughts. Comments really do encourage us writers. I hope you enjoy this. I don't know how to explain this... When I wrote in the real world... I never got printed but I wrote sort of like this... sort of so this is a bit like coming home many years later, I really want your input. Thanks!

\--------------------------

Naruto’s head hurt like hell. It felt like a vice around his brow was being cranked tighter with each beat of his heart.

 

He lifted up to the side and threw up. His gut spasmed over and over. Tainted water splashed onto the rocks and he groaned. His arms shook with the strain of holding him up before giving out. He collapsed only to groan as his ribs cried out in agony against a sharp edge. His legs drifted in the current, his mind numb. All in all, he felt like shit. Cold shit, he realized, vaguely. His teeth were chattering.

 

“Are you going to just lay there and die?” a low, bored voice ventured. “I suppose it would save me some trouble.”

 

For a moment, Naruto thought the voice was in his head. He looked up and saw a dark figure blurring on the edge of his vision. He wasn’t sure if the man was real. Naruto squinted at it, there was something strange about him, the air around him didn’t settle right. His head pounded harder with the effort of thought and he groaned.

 

“It would save me some fucking pain if I did die,” Naruto gritted out. The less he moved the better.

 

“Maybe so.” For a few minutes there was only the gurgling rush of water as it rushed passed the rocks in the center of the river and the shushing of the leaves when gusts of wind brushed through the trees above.

 

Naruto braced himself for whatever was going to come. There was nothing he could do either way. Was this man going to kill him? Help him? He found he really didn't have the energy to care.

 

“Does that mean you don’t want me to help you?”

 

Visions of orange and yellow melting the flesh of his enemies, melting Jiraiya. Jiraiya... washed over him as the water had swept him under minutes before and he rolled forward a bit and retched again.

 

Did such as him deserve help? If he did deserve to live he'd damn well help himself. “Fuck off.”

 

Then he sensed was alone again with the rattling leaves, wet stone and rushing water.

 

Naruto let out a moan and tried to shut out the memories. There was no shutting the door on those. Why hadn’t he just died in the water, been purified by it?

 

His right arm jerked and he pulled it closer to his body instinctively trying to maintain warmth as his body shivered. He tilted his head down, the rocks digging into the side of his face and looked at the muddy, moving water. Could he, should he, climb back into it’s waiting arms?

 

“I die when you are born,” Jiraiya had said.

Fuck you for being right.

 

But what kind of monster had been spawned? He reached deep for his magic and felt it pulse inside him, warm and welcoming. It beckoned to him daring him to cloak himself in the liquid power as if it were the only warmth in a world of loss.

 

Naruto closed his eyes against the wash of fire that wanted to fill his vision and let the darkness of exhaustion take him. At least he would damage no one there.

 

\------

 

It was a crackling sound that merged with his dreams, lending them a realism they didn’t need. The spitting sound as the liquid fire dripped around him, off his brow and slid down his face like tears filled with angry ecstasy. His fingers ached with the need to lengthen into claws his teeth wanted to rend flesh. His heart thrummed in his chest. Naruto groaned and stretched, feeling pain in his body that part of him knew shouldn’t be there. He should feel perfect. He was full of power. He was power. He hissed. This was not right.

 

He opened his hands and felt the tightness the...humanness and that was what brought him to awareness. But the crackling sound of the fire remained, confusing his senses. He opened his eyes. He was on his side, looking into the golden light of a fire and wondered if his nightmares had manifested once more. Maybe it hadn’t just been a dream after all.

 

He blinked again and realized the sound came from a small camp fire.

 

“It is a good thing I did not intend to kill you. You sleep far too deeply.” It was the voice from before and it was nearly dry enough to take the chill from his bones.

 

His clothes were still damp though from the river so he hadn't been there too long. He sensed the man nearby but not his exact location. He didn’t bother to look around. Nothing about this man really worried him for some reason. Besides, he hurt too much and his head might just explode any second if he moved it. He pressed his left palm against his forehead. Maybe that would keep his brains inside.

 

“Did not intend to kill me? Does that mean your intentions have changed? You going to kill me now?” Naruto asked.

 

There was a huff from above his head and to his left. “I suppose we will have to see how we get on.”

 

Naruto was too tired and emotionally raw to continue the fancy verbal jesting.

 

“Who the hell are you?”

 

There was only the crackling of the fire and the sound of the wind in the trees. The odd sensation of more… but more of what, Naruto didn’t know was gone again. Well fuck him then. He didn’t want anyone around to see him when he was so vulnerable anyway.

 

Naruto rolled onto his back. What was he going to do now? First thing first, he’d better figure out where he was. He heard the Rasengan river, but he could tell he wasn’t right next to it. How far away had this man brought him? And who was that asshole? What did he want? He certainly wasn't some nice guy who just wanted to help. No, he couldn't get a read on him, but he was gone for now.

 

Naruto couldn’t go back into the magical world and claim he was a wizard. He wasn’t one. He had no affinity. He was sure to be asked what happened to Jiraiya, what happened to everyone that had been at the stone circle. What would he say? What could he say? They might send someone to investigate the site. He doubted that there would be any hiding that something beyond normal scope of magic had occurred in that place no matter what he did. Besides, he was shit at lying.

Who the fuck were the men who killed Jiraiya? What had they meant about their Master taking control? He'd never support that shit. Maybe after he got through whatever was going on with him now, he'd see what he could find out.

 

He shoved away the horrific images of the past and the voice that said he was the one that had killed Jiraiya. He told himself to concentrate on the now, wisdom that Master Jiraiya had taught him at a young age. He’d used it to put the death of his parents behind him. To put his failures at becoming a wizard behind him. But damn, he missed the old pervert.

 

The fire dancing at his side and the wind that brushed like invisible fingers across his chest and face were comforting companions. He needed the solace. These fingers, they did not censure, they only soothed. Instinctively he reached a hand up, watching his tanned skin turn even further golden in the light.

 

It was just a hand at that moment. His fingers weren’t long but they were strong, they could shoot a bow, clean an animal and prepare ingredients for salves when necessary. It wasn’t something he enjoyed. But his hands, they were just hands, skin and bone, not claws of death and he never wanted them to be again.

 

He sighed and flexed his fingers as if rolling one of his elemental stones between them. It was a way to combat the pain and memories, a meditation exercise. He could almost feel it, the stone there, thumb, index, middle, ring, pinkie and back, fingers waving like reeds in the wind. Then he envisioning the clear stone as if it were the actual wind, chasing itself between his fingers, swirling, playing, just for him. The play of shadow and light mesmerized him. He let it take him away from time.

 

A puff of air tickled his knuckles, brushed the tanned skin. It ducked into the hollow between digits and playfully back out, circling. The trickle of air became a streaming mixture of smoke from the fire and humidity from the still damp woods. He grinned. Power dripped down his arm in tendrils of wispy white. They were like roots from a ghostly tree, growing longer, seeking the source of nourishment. When the roots reached Naruto’s chest, the wind between his fingers spread, branching out above him, treating the trees like it had his fingers, playing between the boughs, tugging at the needles and leaves.

 

Something deep inside Naruto broke free. It carried through his veins like the wind through the vale. Joyous laughter escaped him. His eyes grew wide and the blue glowed bright.

 

It was there! He’d known it was. Jiraiya had known it was… his magic… it existed after all. It was powerful. Tears of exultation poured down his face and he rose, unsteady, to his feet.

 

With knowledge he didn’t know he possessed, he manipulated the wind through the trunks of the trees, making leaves dance in mid-air to music only he could hear, a lilting song that reminded him of Jiraiya and the brightness of his soul. It was alive, the trees and Naruto were alive! It twirled and twisted, tasting the bark and sap. And Jiraiya, who had used his massive amounts of magic for good, he was dead.

 

Without thought, Naruto lifted his second hand, the power of the wind multiplying. The song became a dirge, loud, thumping and howling. The trees shook, yanking at their roots until the very ground trembled.

The small camp fire whipped into the air, streaming like orange veins through the gray rapids of Naruto’s wind power. The orange sprouted roots of it’s own flinging itself into every part of the wind filled glade. Burning wind stole the air from his lungs and Naruto felt his body gasping but he didn’t care.

 

He had finally actualized the power he and his master had fought so long for and if felt as if it were all for nothing. He had killed the man who was his father, ripped him apart until blood welled between his fingers. Rage consumed him. He wanted to be dead. A thing like him should not survive.

 

The air became stifling as the fire stole everything living from leaf and limb. The flames roared in his ears, warning him of it’s power to consume him as well. He laughed.

 

Between one breath and another came the Nothing and Numbness. It encapsulated him with a cold so deep he didn’t know how far it extended. When he gasped he felt as though the tissues of his lungs froze. Darkness was not the word for what surrounded him. Darkness does not contain the fear of oblivion, of nothingness that this place engendered. Where was he? Was this death? He scrunched his eyes and hands shut as if to hold in everything he was, as if it might escape through his flesh. Was he stretching thin or being compressed? Pain as if he were glass shattering tore at what was left of his mind. Time ceased. And there was nothing but exquisite agony. He was terrified that when, if, this was ever over he would no longer be Naruto.

 

Weight as he had never experienced pressed in on him, on every single inch. He hung there.. dying eons passed even as nothing in the world moved forward.  Just enough of him expanded... He...breathed.

 

Naruto’s body bowed upward as he reached for air. It filled his lungs with a raspy sawing sound that tore through his throat. The torment had tears trickling from eyes that bulged open but saw nothing of the stars in the sky. His fingers dug into the dirt in an attempt to ground himself.

 

Air. He had never needed it like he did then, yet his body rebelled. Whatever had happened, wherever he’d been, he’d been so cold, so frozen his muscles burned with the strain of movement. His chest refused to move any more. Scorching lava filled his veins. He screamed with no sound.

 

The beats of his heart were like pulses of an earthquake, fast, hard, almost indistinguishable from one another. How it was so quick while the rest of him so thick with pain he didn’t know but when his voice couldn’t howl out his agony it was his heart that did it for him.

 

A touch to his forehead. “Be calm and this shall pass from you.”

 

Naruto blinked. He didn’t know where the words came from, but he heard them. He also heard what they did not say... If he did not find a way to calm himself, he would die.

 

In his mind he again took the elemental stones out. He felt their weight in his hands he remembered finding each one. He began to count them, another exercise Jiraiya had taught him to help his jumbled mind concentrate. Over and over, he counted them. First the green, then the clear, next blue… One, two, three….

 

“Perhaps you are not hopeless.” The voice was rich with knowledge. Naruto found it vaguely annoying because he got the feeling it was laughing at him.

 

Very slowly, Naruto turned his head to the right and looked into the sun. The light was filtering through morning wisps of fog that wafted from the black ground he rested upon. The man was tall and slender, He wore a dark cloak over green and black armor and had long black hair. The hood was up, hiding his features. He had a type of potential that Naruto had not felt before. That’s what had been bothering him earlier he thought. Naruto narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know why, but before now, he hadn’t considered this man someone he should be wary of. He really should have.

 

“Who.” He had to clear his throat because he sounded like a frog. He pushed himself up and looked around at a large blackened clearing. His muscles clenched in shock. “Where are we?”

 

“Which question do you want an answer to?” Damn but this asshole was making fun of him.

 

Naruto grunted, but he decided he’d just go with it. 

 

Silence surrounded them, broken not by birds and wildlife as it should have been, but only by the sound of the river nearby.

 

Were they still in the same place they’d been the night before? Surely not. What the hell had happened?

 

Wind…. Fire… Unbearable coldness and Nothing….

 

“Who the fuck are you?”

 

“I’m Itachi Uchiha.”

 

Naruto’s eyes popped wide. Un, even that hurt. “Uchiha?” He didn’t know they even existed anymore. They were like secrets that were whispered in the wind. In the tales of the Ancients the name Uchiha had featured prominently. But no one talked of those days except Master Jiraiya. They were considered Cursed Times by many and forgotten by most others.

 

The Uchiha name had been respected, it had power and it’s people split into two branches, Light and Dark Elves. He’d never seen an elf. Almost no one had seen an elf.

 

“Can I see your ears?” It was the first thing that popped into his mind and, of course, his mouth.

 

“It’s too dark yet.”

 

It wasn’t. “You could come closer.”

 

“I could.”

 

Naruto huffed and realized he wasn’t going to get what he wanted. “What the fuck happened here?” Naruto asked, not really meaning to ask the question aloud.

 

“You did.”

 

"You don't have to be so damn obscure. What the fuck are you talking about?"

 

The Uchiha pointed at the ground.

 

Naruto picked up a handful of dirt and realized it was charcoal and ash. A million thoughts ran through his mind. How the fuck could he have done this. “No way I did….” He remembered what happened to Jiraiya. He thought back, he’d been doing what? Laying looking at the sky? Playing with the wind? That had been his imagination, right?

 

Naruto looked at his blackened, ash covered hand. “I remember imagining that I was playing with the wind.” He swallowed. “It called to me, through the branches and the leaves, it laughed and called out to me to play, to dance.”

 

There was no sounds from nearby foliage. It had all been burnt away.

 

“You encouraged the fire to dance with the wind.” The voice was informative and that was all. Naruto at least expected it to be accusatory.

 

“I..” Naruto brought his knees up and rested his forehead on them, curling his arms around his legs. He remembered the exhilaration he’d felt when he’d done that. The freedom and joy, like he was one with nature. He’d been one with it, with his power again and all he’d gifted those around him with had been death. He’d killed the trees.

 

And then death had come for him -- hadn’t it?

 

“You.” He swallowed and thought of the absolute Nothing he’d felt. “You killed me, didn’t you?”

 

“Tsk.”

 

Naruto heard the implied if I’d killed you, you’d be dead in the single sound. He shivered. “I placed you and the burning area of the forest in a void.”

 

“But there isn’t anything in a void,” Naruto turned and looked at the figure who Naruto could now see had dark eyes and pale skin. Pretty. Deadly. The cloak was actually a green, so dark it was almost black, was wrapped around his shoulders and nearly touched the ground.

 

“There is only matter in a void. In this case, you and the dirt.”

 

“Why didn’t I die?” He was so confused and it pissed him off.

 

The thin lips smirked but there was no humor in the expression. “Apparently you are rather resilient.”

 

Naruto grunted. Resilient. Cockroaches were resilient. But the elf did have a point, he’d always been rather resilient.

 

“You seem rather focused on dying,” Uchiha pointed out.

 

Naruto snorted. “Besides the fact that dying is sort of a big deal, some… thing… has recently happened.”

 

“I didn’t say not dying. I said dying.”

 

Naruto glowered at him and fisted his hands.. “Fuck off, Elf.”

 

“Very eloquent. Do you plan on forcing me to do so?”

 

Naruto pushed himself forward onto his knees and then rose shakily to his feet. “Leave me alone!”

 

“You are a hazard to yourself, everyone, and everything around you. I do not think you disagree. If you do, merely look around you at the trees you ‘played’ with last night. Would you leave a dangerous mongrel to walk among the lambs alone?”

 

That was enough. He’d always tried to do the right thing and this was what he got? A growl rolled up through Naruto’s chest along with fiery power. Everything around him grew brighter. The smell of the distant trees came to him under the stench of burned wood. He could smell the water, could hear the slow beat of the elf’s heart as it began to accelerate.

 

“That terrible power, it comes so easily to the surface now, doesn’t it? Is it your true desire to kill me?”

 

“You tried to kill me!” Naruto didn’t recognize his own voice as deep and gravelly as it was. He looked down to see his nails were long and pointed.

 

“You wanted to die.” The Uchiha pushed his hair back over a shoulder. “I knew though that you would survive. You are meant for far greater things.”

 

Naruto laughed; it sounded obscene even to his own ears. “Greater things? Who am I to murder then? Villages, Towns? Cities? I am a monster, a demon!”

 

The noble face nodded. “You could be the very thing that ushers in the end the world, Naruto Uzumaki.”

 

Naruto’s mouth fell open in shock, he couldn’t believe this elf had told him this, actually seemed to believe this. His power diminished, trickling back towards his core.

 

“Or you could be the one who saves the world.”

 

Far off to the left, a branch broke, getting the Uchiha’s attention. The elf slipped off his hood to listen better. When he turned, Naruto could finally see it… A long, pointed ear. It had a single gold cuff about midway up, but otherwise, no other ornamentation. Naruto was disappointed. He’d heard elves could be very decorative with their ear jewelry.

 

Naruto took a step forward and reached out without meaning to. “You do have the long ears…”

 

The nasty look the Uchiha gave him made him drop his hand and blink innocently.

 

“They are just so cute…”

 

“You call me cute again, I will gut you, no matter your fate,” Uchiha hissed.

 

“I didn’t call YOU cute… just.”

 

“Shut up. We need to move. Something is on it’s way here.”

 

“Don’t you mean someone?” Naruto asked.

 

The silence made for a rather effective reprimand.

 

“Why should I follow you?” Naruto found himself whispering.

 

“Do you want to become a mass killer or use your power to help others?”

 

Naruto looked at his feet and scuffed his boot in the black ash, realizing he was now nearly totally ash covered. His hand still had claws.

 

“Help,” he said petulantly.

 

“Then follow me and tuck that power a way. It’s like a fire in the dark.”

 

“How?”

 

The Uchiha growled. “Calm yourself like you did when made it back from the void.”

 

“I thought you wanted me to move?”

 

The look the Uchiha gave him made him shut up and begin counting stones under his breath. Fuck, for a skinny, pretty looking guy, the elf could be scary as hell.


End file.
